Your Kids Don't Care If Everyone Is Looking at the Camera

One of the biggest worries parents bring to a family photo session is whether their children are going to cooperate.

Will they smile?

Will they sit still?

Will everyone look at the camera at the same time?

I understand those concerns because almost every parent has them.

But after photographing families for years, I have learned something.

The photographs your children will love someday are rarely the ones where everyone is perfectly posed.

They are the ones that remind them how it felt to be part of your family.

The way Dad made everyone laugh.

The way Mom wrapped her arms around them without thinking.

The way siblings teased each other one minute and hugged the next.

Those moments tell your family's story far better than perfect smiles ever could.

Some of my favorite images happen between the poses. They happen when everyone forgets there is a camera nearby and simply enjoys being together.

That is why I encourage families to move, talk, laugh, and interact during their session.

Children were never meant to stand perfectly still for an hour.

They were made to run.

To explore.

To hold your hand.

To tell you a story halfway through taking pictures.

When we leave room for those moments, something beautiful happens.

The photographs begin to look like your family instead of a version of your family that was carefully arranged for the camera.

Years from now, your children probably will not notice whether everyone's eyes were perfectly open in every photograph.

They will notice the way you looked at them.

They will remember how much fun they had.

They will remember feeling loved.

Those are the memories worth preserving.